International law and the Murray-Darling Basin Plan

Abstract

Both the Water Act 2007 (Cth) and the Murray-Darling Basin Plan rely to a significant extent upon Australia's international legal obligations under "relevant international agreements" to provide not only a constitutional basis for the legislative schema but also a foundation for how the Commonwealth has sought to develop the Plan. This raises issues regarding the extent of the international legal obligations in those agreements, the relevance of each agreement, and whether - consistent with High Court jurisprudence - the Act and Plan are consistent with aspects of the Commonwealth's s 51(xxix) power with respect to "external affairs". This article reviews these issues and comments on the relationship between international law and the Act and the Plan. Show more